infographic diagram on appropriate language relating to trans issues

Today I came across this neat resource from the UC Davis LGBT Resource Center: a diagram that describes why certain language around trans issues might be inappropriate. For example, it addresses the ever-exhausting question “Why would you transition if you’re going to be gay?” (which I myself have been asked on several occasions). Of course the answer is that sexual orientation and gender identity are separate issues. To put it in personal terms, gender identity has to do with how I feel about my own internal sense of gender, while orientation addresses the question to whom I might be attracted🙂

However I did notice one problem with the diagram. In the third text bubble down on the right hand side, they use the word “transperson” as one word with no space in between. On the contrary, one must always use phrasings such as “trans person,” “trans woman,” and “trans man.” This is because the incorrect word “transwoman” implies that there is some qualification on a trans woman’s womanhood, as if there are “women” and then there are “transwomen.” In reality, there are trans women and cis women, both of which fall under the larger category of women.

However, I notice that the correct phrasing appears in the first bubble on the right hand side, so perhaps the above case simply represents a typo.

Finally I will just point out that I came across this on the Bilerico site earlier today.